Robert Doisneau Photo Exhibition
Part 2. Origins of “Three Seconds of Eternity”

About the exhibition

FUJIFILM SQUARE Photo History Museum will hold the second part of the photo exhibition “Origins of ‘Three Seconds of Eternity’” featuring works of Robert Doisneau, who is regarded as France's national photographer.
“Of all the photographs I have ever taken, successful ones are only 300 at most. Assuming one photo is taken in 1/100th of a second, that is only three seconds in 50 years” (Robert Doisneau). Like most other children born into working-class families in the suburbs of Paris, Robert Doisneau started working in his teenage years; therefore, to him, “taking photographs” meant “earning a living.” Even after his works were recognized and his name became well known, he continued to take photographs simply steadily, never losing his position as a “workman.” It is said that most of the approximately 450,000 photos he took throughout his lifetime were taken as commissioned jobs. Many of the works, which are now known as Doisneau's masterpieces, are no exception.

Focusing on Robert Doisneau as a professional photographer, this exhibition will display his 38 works, carefully selected from magazines and advertisements of the period. The works include “The Kiss by the Hotel de Ville (the City Hall, Paris),” which has been loved beyond time and borders. This work first formed part of a suite of seven photographs commissioned by and published in the U.S. graphic magazine LIFE in 1950 under the theme of “Lovers in Paris.” It was about 30 years later that this work leaped to attract enormous attention and became known all over the world, when it was published in a photo book titled “Three Seconds of Eternity (trois seconds d'éternité)” in 1979 and its posters and postcards went on sale.

The 1930s, when Robert Doisneau entered the career path of photographer, was an age when photography demanded many skills and techniques. Fascinated by photography as a “new medium” with tremendous possibilities, Doisneau continued to take photographs from his unique perspective while practicing his philosophy that “non-obedience and curiosity are the driving forces of a photographer” within the framework of his jobs. This exhibition will bring together a collection of Doisneau's works, including those for Renault, where he worked as an industrial photographer; those published in magazines such as LIFE, Point de Vue, and Le Point; and those taken for advertisement.